Blog Saul Mishkin

We make decisions every day. Most of them are simple and don’t require too much consideration. Things like what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, whether to eat breakfast at all, or what to do with your day.

As a matter of fact, doing nothing with your day is also a decision.

Most of these decisions are made with very little consideration or thought. We just do them. We know that there are no serious consequences if we happen to make the wrong decision.

On the other hand, we are sometimes faced with very important, critical decisions. These are the ones that usually impact not only us, but our business or other people who are counting on us to make the correct decisions.

So… Is there a magic formula for making the right decisions? Unfortunately, the answer is no. There are no guarantees.

As a matter of fact, I read an article several years ago that stated that 70% of the decisions that Fortune 500 executives make, over time turn out to be the wrong decisions.

The Key… They Made the Decisions!

Whenever you find yourself in that challenging position of having to make a “big” decision, remember that the most important thing that you can do for your team and for you, is make the decision.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, “The best decision, is the right decision. The second best decision, is the wrong decision. The worst decision, is no decision.“

Will Rogers echoed these sentiments with his famous words, “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.“

Having a clear picture of who you are and what you want is something that most of us don’t stop to think about. We start and end our days without giving much thought to whether or not we are on the path we should be on.

Most of us lead our lives without giving much thought to our true purpose or intentions. We end up trying to live the lives that the marketing and advertising companies misguide us into believing we should be living.

The end result is a society of people that are out of balance and out of touch with what really matters to them and to others. We spend so much time trying to be something and someone other than who we really are.

Setting goals regarding where you want to get in life or who you want to be is a good start. But, if you don’t begin with finding out who you truly are and where you are, it will be difficult for you to set a course for your desired outcome. It would be like calling a travel agent and telling them your goal is to get to Timbuktu; the first thing they would need to know is where you are starting from.

You must begin by looking inward to understand who you are, and what your core values and beliefs are. Only then will you be able to chart a course for the life you deserve.